Posting to ActiveRain Channels

ActiveRain blogging platform has several means to help our posts get more visibility. For instance we can post to groups. Those visiting the groups page will have opportunity to see our post if they haven't yet subscribed to us and would otherwise not have seen it. When somebody subscribes to us, we have the highest probability of being seen as it shows up in the subscriptions news feed. (To learn more about subscriptions, see my post "You've Subscribed - NOW WHAT?")

Inside the walls of AR, we also have a means gain visibility by categorizing our posts into "Channels" and "Topics" (if you are familiar with Wordpress, this is similar to "Categories") For instance you might write a post for someone new to the home buying experience and categorize it in the Consumer Channel titled "Home Buying" and the topic "First Time Home Buyers". Another post that you write might be for your peers about your experiences creating community videos. So you would file that under
Professional >
Technology and Tools > Video.

As you can see here on the ActiveRain site, at the top navigation bar above, there is a link to Channels.  Your peers will pick the professional topics and consumers will pick the consumer categories.

Besides the link in the above navigation bar to channels, your categories are extremely useful on your outside blog page. These channels show up as clickable links in a sidebar widget. If somebody lands on your outside blog via a web search, your widget is offering them an easy way to see all that you have written broken up into categories. When they click a link, it takes them to a page that lists all your matching blog posts. If you have a diversified blog, you have a great opportunity to show them your expertise and hopefully get a new contact from it.

I have created a one-page reference sheet that you can download and print. It shows all the channels and the sub-categories. I highly suggest you print it and highlight the channels that you plan to write posts for. You won't choose all of them. However, pick your "buckets" to fill and start filling them. This also will give you a diversity of posts and make your blog more interesting!

[Channels reference page PDF, right-click and "save as" to download a copy]

Besides channels, we also need to mark our posts with tags. My next post will show you best practices on how to tag your posts as well of how you can leverage your tags. Stay tuned!

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About the
Author

Craig Daniels  is a Technology Manager residing in NYC who specializes in applied technologies in the fields of Architecture and Real Estate. Craig focuses on finding the best uses of tech as can be used to help a business be more successful. He is keen on always seeing the perspective and viewpoint of his audience and he tailors his teaching to be easily understood. He teaches by means of this blog, online courses and webinars, as well as one-on-one remote sessions with persons located throughout the country and beyond.